The subject of wine has a number of delightfully distinctive traits, as well as a few that, quite frankly, bore the living lees out of me. One of the lesser attractive features of World Vino, is the relentless navel-gazing by commentators, critics, writers and professional gabblers. Those who constantly question, analyse, ponder and editorialise on the “state” of wine and its place in the world, ask what is the “future” of this noble product of the vine and suggest what wine “must do to appeal to new consumers”.
Even to myself, who is commercially vested in wine as well as being truly interested in it, this relentless echo chamber of voices querying and harping on about the state and the future and the condition of the wine sector is endlessly soulless and mundane. And smacks of desperation within the offerors of this vocal introspection who, too, have secured interests in the topic.
How, then, must those glancing at all this self-flagellating ranting interpret the wine category? Already (unfairly) suffering from an image as being an uptight, exclusive subject requiring the donning of tweed jackets, the acquiring of a certificate of competence and a poncy faux French accent, the wine world’s endless questioning of its own viability and place in the current world order does little towards creating an attractive space. One where, in case it has been forgotten, an appealing, delicious product rich in multi-layered pleasures presides.
This insecurity within wine circles has become especially noticeable since last year, when consumer trends showed that the alcohol category was beginning to take a dip. Maybe I missed the memo, but I did not see the beer, whisky, Cognac and tequila industries go all maudlin, spinning missives and commentary befitting a doomsday cult rather than a place for pleasure-seekers and bon vivants.
Wine, however, had turned grey and gloomy, and whenever a critic missed a tasting, time and energy was sought to comment on the grim state of play in the world of wine, the disloyal consumers, the uncertain future of something that has been around or 8000 years. The peril is here, and the peril is now.
This introspective grimness and menopausal negativity is a bad thing. In the past 18 months, wine-enthusiasts and those with a passing knowledge have during personal gatherings expressed a concern, “is everything all right?” with the wine industry. “We keep hearing and reading that no-one wants to drink wine anymore….” This, the result of the tomes of questioning within the industry circles themselves.
Yes, there are signs that wine – just like most alcohol products – is facing a challenge from an ever-changing world populated by individual people who do not necessarily follow the generational tack of their forebears. The global economy is tight and not conducive to cheerful extravagant spending. Political instability is present in the form of death and carnage. It is not party-time everywhere.
Wine will live, but the question is how it will live. All the prying into its place in this world, the posting of self-doubt about wine’s future and the concern at those ghastly ignorant millennials and Gen Z’s who cannot distinguish between a Bordeaux and Côte Rotie is not a wine world I want to, or should, live in. Nore does any other generation for that matter.
Just a thought.
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This article is interesting. About an interesting topic. I also don’t know whether it’s just me, on X, I am a big fan of wine and so the #wine hashtag and the likes produce less and less results… Are the wars and current world conflicts make the mood somber and then the wine flair is somewhere in the “mist”..?